Soulpepper Theatre Company and Astrid Janson Melanie McNeill

Minister Robert Borden: Once fringe, his company is now establishment – having been invited to the Stratford Festival in 2012, and taken up residency alongside the Soulpepper Theatre Company at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts three years ago, according to Globe and Mail. Wearing towering wigs by Alice Norton and satirical costumes by Astrid Janson and Melanie McNeill, a cast of seven quick-change their way from up to Prime Minister Robert Borden, showing 1914 to 1918 from a Canadian panorama. Playwright and director Michael Hollingsworth has been cycling and recycling through these epic plays since 1985. The action all takes place on a smallish stage behind a picture frame, people and cartoonish props lit by pinpoint lighting, with weird synth music by Brent Snyder giving the whole thing a 1980s B-movie feel. You either love the style, or you like it. Hollingsworth scenes are short, loose sketches, separated by blackouts, that usually impart a point or two of historical information, give you a punchline of sorts and an emotion, usually sour, and then move on quickly. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.